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Summary: Asimov's, 2005
Asimov's published 79 stories in 2005, the first year of Sheila Williams' editorship. Only 6 were novellas, 31 were novelettes, and 42 were short-stories. This was about 690,000 words of fiction, slightly less than last year. One novellas was a reprint, "Shadow Twin" by Gardner Dozois, George R. R. Martin, and Daniel Abraham, from Sci Fiction in 2004.
Novellas
My favorite novella this year at Asimov's was Tom Purdom's "Bank Run" (October/November), a fascinating adventure story set on another planet which centers on ... financial negotiations. And the hero is a banker. But it's pretty exciting -- and besides the financial stuff there is some thought-provoking and a bit creepy sexual politics, plus plenty of real action. I also quite liked Ian McDonald's "The Little Goddess" (June), set in the same India as his Hugo-nominated novel _River of Gods_, and about a girl who is for a time a goddess, and who must adjust to a more mundane life. Third best would be Connie Willis's "Inside Job" (January), about a professional skeptic investigating a channeler who suddenly seems to channel historical skeptic H. L. Mencken.
Walter Jon Williams' "Solidarity" is good, too: an excerpt from my favorite recent Space Opera series, his Praxis series. And "Shadow Twin" is also fine. I didn't much like Kristine Kathryn Rusch's "Diving Into the Wreck", however.
I'm always wrong about the Reader's Award winners, I was spectacularly wrong last year. This year I really think I might have a chance to guess right -- I'm picking Connie Willis to win!
Novelettes
My ten favorite novelettes were: R. Garcia y Robertson's "Oxygen Rising" (February), Esther Friesner's "The Fraud" (March), Mary Rosenblum's "Green Shift" (March), Robert Reed's "Dallas: An Essay" (April/May), James Patrick Kelly's "The Edge of Nowhere" (June, natch), Michael Swanwick's "Girls and Boys Come Out to Play" (July), Paul Melko's "The Summer of the Seven" (August), Daryl Gregory's "Second Person, Present Tense" (September), William Sanders' "Amba" (December), and Chris Beckett's "The Perimeter" (December).
Of these my top three, in this order, are 1) "The Edge of Nowhere", about an isolated city full of reincarnated people, apparently maintained by aliens; 2) "Second Person, Present Tense", about a drug that ends up resulting in a girl getting a completely new personality; 3) "The Perimeter", set in a mostly virtual future London. "Dallas: An Essay" is knocking on the door.
Prediction? I was wrong about this category last year, too. I'm going to guess maybe Larry Niven and Brenda Cooper's "Kath and Quicksilver", a pretty decent story actually. Or maybe Swanwick's story.
Short Stories
Here's my list of favorite short stories: "The Fate of Mice", by Susan Palwick (January); "Lover of Statues", by Ian Watson (April/May); "The Ice Cream Man", by James Van Pelt (June); "The Real Deal", by Peter Friend (July); "A Birth", by Carrie Richerson (August); and "Finished", by Robert Reed (September).
"Finished" has my first place vote, about uploading yourself into a new, improved, body. "The Fate of Mice", about an enhanced mouse who hears the story "Flower for Algernon" is second. And any of the others would be a good third place vote -- for now I'm torn between "The Real Deal" and "The Ice Cream Man".
I did kind of guess last year's short story Reader's Award winner -- but that was easy. Never vote against Resnick. (I didn't choose a story -- I just figured one of his would win.) There are no Resnick stories this year, so I'll go with another prominent author, Harry Turtledove, and his very topical and very much "heart in the right place" story, "He Woke in Darkness".
Things of Little Interest
The average novella was 22500 words, verse 21200 last year, the average novelette 11200, same as last year, and the average short story 5000 words (4700 words last year).
